Gilbertville Depot

10/11/2026

These photos are believed to be WCF&N's #183 locomotive derailed after hitting a car, although but we have found no records of this crash.

09/25/2026

The party will be moved indoors tomorrow (Sat. 9/26) if it rains. There's plenty of room so stop out and listen to Zoot & Newt and enjoy free refreshments.

09/23/2026

Rain or shine - we'll move indoors if it rains

This Saturday, Zoot and Newt, the duo, will be back at the Gilbertville Depot for their Fall Celebration. We have always had fun playing there - outside is sublime, but inside is loaded with memorabilia, not to mention the superb acoustics. If you come, you'll hear three hours of tunes - music we first played in 2013, songs we learned last month, plus all the usual Beatles, Creedence, and Tom Petty you've heard for years

09/12/2026

09/05/2026

Our good friend Ralph Voss took this photo of the depot in April 1976. Ralph said there was a notice in the window that stated that the rail line was up for abandonment.
The line & depots were rarely used and the Waterloo Railroad/Illinois Central RR sought approval from the government to shut the line down. A few years later approval was granted and the tracks and signals were removed. In the early 1980s the rail line & two depots were privately purchased and donated for public use as the Cedar Valley Nature Trail.

08/24/2026

Celebrate America’s 250 with Us
In 2026, we celebrate the outdoors and 250 years of American history with the American Discovery 250 Relay.

This 6,800-mile relay from California to Delaware will carry a copy of the Declaration of Independence from coast to coast, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on the 4th of July and ending on Thanksgiving at the Atlantic Ocean. Join the celebration by participating for a day or more in a relay, attending some of the locally-hosted events, or sharing your story of personal growth and adventure. Together, we commemorate America’s past and shape our future.
The Gilbertville Depot will host a rest stop for the relay on Saturday morning October 3 - more details to come.
https://discoverytrail.org/america-250-relay

08/21/2026

This photo is of the Urbana Depot, it was smaller than the Gilbertville & Brandon Depots but used the same materials and style. Further down the line the depot in Lafayette was built like the Urbana Depot, both long gone.

08/08/2026

Using the Nature Trail can be very satisfying but did you know that research shows that greeting strangers can genuinely improve your mood, reduce stress, and even increase energy levels through both psychological and physiological mechanisms.

So, give a nod or say hi to your fellow travelers on the trail and enhance your life without spending a dime.

07/22/2026

The large open room at the south end of the depot is the freight room. Products of all sorts were loaded and unloaded from the trains to wagons and trucks off a wooden dock on the alley side, which has been gone for decades. With a generous financial donation from one of our friends and volunteer labor, we reconstructed a new dock using lumber custom cut from recycled wood. The new loading dock will be a useful, rugged addition to the building while restoring authenticity. Thanks SS